DTA signs whole-of-government deal with AWS

The Digital Transformation Agency has signed a whole-of-government volume sourcing agreement with AWS based on a simplified, coordinated procurement model.

The centralised agreement will be mandatory for all federal non-corporate government entities and optional for corporate government entities, as well as state and territory government agencies.

Agencies will be able to use the model to access all AWS service in any of AWS’s 66 availability zones worldwide, including the AWS Sydney region which was granted PROTECTED-level certification from the Australian Cyber Security Centre in January.

All agencies will have the same terms, granting access to economies of scale to even the smallest government entities. Agencies will be able to access the services on a pay-as-you-use model under pre-agreed terms and conditions, which will also expedite the procurement process.

The procurement model covers cloud services as well as support, professional and training services.

A number of major public sector organisations are already using AWS, including IP Australia, the ATO, the ABS, Landgate, Emergency Services Victoria, the Australian Museum, CSIRO, La Trobe University, Monash University and RMIT Online. Existing non-corporate federal agency AWS customers will need to transition to the new arrangement.

Australian AWS Partner Network customers will also have opportunities to benefit from any increase in adoption of AWS cloud services through participation in the DTA’s Cloud Services Panel.

The DTA has already negotiated similar whole-of-government procurement agreements with SAP, Microsoft, Concur and IBM.

“The DTA continues to expand whole-of-government volume sourcing agreements to ensure government agencies have ready access to the best pricing, terms and conditions,” Minister for Government Services Stuart Robert said.

“Government agencies regularly engage AWS services, each with separate contracts. The new arrangement represents an opportunity to provide cost reductions through efficiencies of scale. Over a number of years, aggregated procurement has allowed us to leverage the bulk-buying power of the government to negotiate consistent and improved terms and conditions.”

A recent report commissioned by AWS and compiled by Deloitte Access Economics found that Australia is one of the global leaders in terms of the government adoption of cloud services. Meanwhile, 94% of public servant respondents to the survey agreed that procurement processes should be modernised for the cloud era.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Sergey Nivens

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